The combination of discourse analysis and semiotic analysis
brings together two disciplines that have not traditionally been used by translators to
deal with the transference of cultural aspects in translation.

Much confusion still prevails amongst theorists regarding
the exact definitions of discourse and semiotics. Discourse is often seen as only
referring to the spoken word. Stubbs (1983: 9) differentiates between text and discourse:
"one talks of written text versus spoken discourse".

Semiotics is often confused with semiosis. In both cases a
distinct definition will be presented for these terms to avoid any confusion or ambiguity.
These two disciplines will be discussed separately, starting with discourse.

Definitions of Discourse

Various views on the term "discourse" will be compared, as
well as various views on discourse analysis. Often theorists use text and discourse
interchangeably; others define discourse as spoken words only, and text as written words.
In both instances context is seen as a separate function. A distinction is made in this
dissertation between these terms and their function, and a working definition of the
different terms will be formulated for use and application.

Traditionally, discourse has been treated as "a
continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence a discourse
is a behavioural unit which has a pre-theoretical status in linguistics "
(Crystal 1991: 106). According to this definition discourse is primarily seen as spoken
language (a language act: parole).

Discourse covers a vast field and definitions abound.
This can be illustrated by the opinions of various theorists. Yule and Brown (1987: 1)
state that "the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language in
use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the descriptions of linguistic forms independent
of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human
affairs".

It becomes clear that the production of discourse is a
social act and therefore written discourse is the representation of this social act. This
social act implies that communication takes place. This feature will be further discussed
under the communicative function of discourse.

Some theorists distinguish between text and discourse as
two separate terms and concepts, an opinion that will be later refuted. Salkie (1995: ix)
states that "text or a discourse is a stretch of language that may be longer than one
sentence. Text and discourse analysis is about how sentences combine to form texts by
means of cohesiveness and coherence".

Newmarks (1988: 54) definition is similar to
Salkies definition, in that he states:

The analysis of texts beyond and above the
sentence  the attempt to find linguistic regularities in discourse its main
concepts are cohesion  the features that bind sentences to each other grammatically
and lexically  and coherence  which is the notional and logical unity of a
text.

Two important aspects (standards of textuality), coherence
and cohesion, are mentioned in the above definitions. Coherence refers to those elements
that make a text hang together, and refers to textual and contextual aspects of discourse.
A coherent text is "a text whose constituent parts (episodes, sentences) are
meaningfully related so that the text as a whole makes sense, even though
there may be relatively few markers " (Fairclough 1992: 83).

Cohesiveness or cohesion refers to "how clauses are
linked together into sentences, and how sentences are in turn linked together to form
larger units in texts" (Fairclough 1992: 77). This can be achieved by repetition,
conjunctive words, near-synonyms or vocabulary from a common semantic field. Cohesion
deals with the textual aspect of discourse.

The relevance of these two aspects is that they are
important in text production, and thus in discourse analysis. Should one or both of these
features be absent, the text would not be able to function as a meaningful whole. This in
turn would have an impact on the context of the discourse, and thus have many
ramifications for the translator of the text who would have to make sense of disjointed
elements in the advertisement to be translated.

A shortcoming in Salkies definition is that it does
not account for texts that are shorter than a sentence and consist only of one or two
words, or spoken language. In the case of advertisements, especially print advertisements,
there is often little or no text and the emphasis is on the visual material supported by
very little text. For instance, a print advertisement could consist of only visual
material and one word, such as a brand name or an exclamation. This proves that discourse
does not necessarily have to consist of lengthy sentences. The coherence would be brought
about by the interaction between the word(s) and the visual material, but there would be
very little or no cohesion due to the lack of text.

Newmarks definition suggests that discourse is an
all-inclusive term for the written and spoken language used in a social act. Stubbs (1983:
1) points out "that language and situation are inseparable". The situation forms
the basis of the context. It follows thus that context and text are two inseparable
aspects that work together to constitute the discourse. Thus a working definition for
discourse as perceived in this dissertation can be formulated.

Working definition of discourse

Text refers to all linguistic aspects in written or spoken natural
language, i.e. the words used to form the utterance or written text. It could be a word, a
sentence, a paragraph, or a longer stretch of language, in other words any length of words
used to create text. In semiotic terms language represents a sign system. In other words,
language is a linguistic sign system creating meaning in a given context.

The information provided by the text must be related to the
discourse as a whole; that is with the text as coherent collection of semantic relations,
in other words " the quality of perceived purpose, meaning and
connection " (Cook 1994: 25).

The text takes place within a given situation or context.
Context consists of various factors, not all of which always appear at once in a given
situation.

situation - the properties and
relations of objects and people in the vicinity of the text, as perceived by the
participants;

co-text - text which precedes or
follows that under analysis, and which participants judge to belong to the same discourse;

intertext - text which the
participants perceive as belonging to other discourse, but which they associate with the
text under consideration, and which affects their interpretation;

participants - they are described
as senders, addressers, addressees and receivers; and

function - what the text is
intended to do by the senders and addressers, or perceived to do by the receivers and
addressees. (This element will be dealt with separately.)

For the purposes of this dissertation this definition of
context suffices and can be used as such. In persuasive advertisements, usually more than
one of these aspects works together to form the context in which text production takes
place. In semiotic terms, the different aspects create or represent signs (context) that
generate meaning to perform a persuasive function together with the linguistic signs
(text).

Therefore, advertisement discourse is defined as text
occurring within a specific context.

Discourse analysis

It is vital for the translator to keep in mind that text cannot
exist without context and vice versa. The main assumption is that, in persuasive
advertisements, the text (language) is subject and sensitive to the context. Context
includes knowledge of elements existing outside the text (knowledge of the world) as well
as how these elements contribute to create a certain frame of reference and/or a cultural
identity.

The culture in which a certain advertisement is created
forms part of the context. Schiffrin (1987: 4) confirms this view by saying that
" language always occur(s) in a context, but its patterns  of form and
function, and at surface and underlying levels  are sensitive to features of that
context". When translating a persuasive advertisement, the translator has to be
sensitive to this because "language is potentially sensitive to all of the contexts
in which it occurs, and, even more strongly, language reflects those contexts because it
helps to constitute them" (Schiffrin 1987: 5).

Advertisements always rely on the relation between the text
and its context; the one cannot survive without the other. The receiver senses this
relationship and decodes the message accordingly. The context of the advertisement
determines how the receivers will perceive the message. The context is embedded in a
specific culture, whether it is a language-related culture or a sub-culture.

The task of discourse analysis is to identify the cultural
aspects and determine their role in the persuasive advertisements in view of transferring
them in the translation process.

Knowledge of discourse analysis is important for the
translator to:

identify the text and context;

isolate and describe the inherent elements in the text and
context;

determine how these elements interact in the discourse;

identify cultural aspects; and

determine how the above-mentioned points function in the
communication process.

ADVERTISEMENTS AS
DISCOURSE

Advertisement discourse challenges the
translator more than any other discourse because of its very nature and the multitude of
elements that constitute its existence. Cook (1992: 4) states that there are hundreds of
discourse types "which merge into each other and defy exact definition". This is
particularly relevant to the nature of advertisements: an advertisement could be several
types at once. For instance, a persuasive advertisement could display characteristics of a
joke, a song and cartoon at the same time. In an attempt to deal with the translation of
cultural aspects in advertisements, the characteristics and the function of this
communicative event have to be discussed. However, it would not be reasonable or justified
to formulate one definitive meaning of what constitutes advertisements: the definition
would be limiting - a contradiction in terms.

Characteristics

The various characteristics of advertising as
identified by Cook (1992: 214) apply to the broad spectrum of advertisements, in whatever
form. These characteristics cover the most important characteristics inherent to all forms
of advertising. The translator can use these guidelines to determine whether a discourse
is an advertisement if it displays one or more of these characteristics.

The features below are prototypical of advertisements
rather than definitive. (They have been arranged in order of importance as viewed by the
study. The characteristics from number 26 are the authors additions.)

A persuasive advertisement could contain one, all or a
combination of these characteristics. There are no set rules which determine that
persuasive advertisements that use a specific medium should display certain
characteristics. Advertisements are in a constant state of flux. Although the message of
two products might be the same, different mediums could change the characteristics of the
two advertisements.

Function

In the broadest sense advertisements either
persuade or inform receivers in terms of their functionality. The main function of a
persuasive advertisement is to persuade the receiver to take a specific action, in other
words the receiver is directly manipulated to change or modify his/her (consumer)
behaviour. Elements of information can also be present. The intended function can only
take place if the discourse fulfils its communicative role.